Kentucky

Wearing a fancy hat to watch the Kentucky Derby each May, even from home, is a real local custom, whether or not someone follows horse racing otherwise. The state’s nickname, “The Bluegrass State,” comes from the deep-green grass covering central Kentucky, which can look almost blue in certain light, the same land that shaped the state’s horse industry around Lexington.

Bourbon is a major point of local pride, and bluegrass music, born here and built around the banjo and fiddle, remains a living tradition at local festivals rather than a historical footnote.

The Hot Brown, an open-faced turkey sandwich from Louisville, and Mammoth Cave National Park, home to the longest known cave system on Earth, round out the state’s identity.